How To Play TFT, Teamfight Tactics Beginner's Guide 2025
How do you play and get good at the famous auto chess TFT game? There is no doubt that testing the waters of a new genre and learning a new game is not a walk in the park. However, our comprehensive guide on Team Fight Tactics, one of the famous auto chess games, has you covered all its aspects. This game guide will cover all the basics of Teamfight Tactics, the core gameplay mechanics, game modes, champions, items, and economy. If getting good at this game feels overwhelming, leave it to us and check out our TFT boosting services. Team Fight Tactics, commonly known as TFT, is a famous auto chess battler game by Riot Games. The game has grabbed the attention of strategy video game enthusiasts and hosts millions of players online. The game appears as a passive chess game where you strategically place your set pieces and watch them execute strategies automatically. This gives you the room to plan and adapt to the ongoing match.
How to Play Your First TFT Match
To get started with your first TFT match, you need to have a League of Legends client as the TFT runs through LoL. After you download the LoL client, you will require a Riot Games account, which can be registered on Riot’s official page. After you get your hands on your account, you can log in to the client and press play to launch the game. After choosing your desired game mode, the game begins with a vote on a Portal. Previously, TFT games would start with a carousel round where you would select an item and a champion to begin. The new updates have recently replaced it with Portals, where the players can vote by standing in one of the portals. Each portal represents a unique effect and is distinct from the other. This effect will change the game's fundamental nature as each effect offers unique buffs. Overall, there are 40 unique effects, and the game randomly chooses three before every match, making the game fun and challenging, equal parts.
How Do You Win in Teamfight Tactics?
At the start of the match, your team will only have one champion, which isn't much of a team. However, you will play a few monster rounds against AI-controlled champions, which, upon dying, will give you gold, items, and champions for your team. Don’t worry, the AI monster in the initial levels won’t pose much of a challenge, so save gold, you will only require a single unit to handle them. However, these monsters will evolve into more powerful champions at later levels. The initial rounds will allow you to devise a strategy before entering into a PvP game mode. Before you fight, you will have a limited time to set your unit (little legend at this time) on the chessboard by dragging it from the bench. If you fail to do so, the game will automatically arrange your unit. Once the combat round begins, your unit will come alive to attack monster minions.
To get more information about your units, you can right-click on the unit, whether it is on the chessboard or sitting on the bench. This will inform you about your unit’s health/mana, synergies, rank, cost, ability information, and items. The top of your screen gives you the info about the match via the cube icon, the minion fight icons, and the carousel round icon.
TFT Core Gameplay Mechanics
The more mana your unit has, the faster it will use its ability. Your unit gains mana when in a fight, either attacking or taking damage. In either case, the mana bar keeps filling up, and once it's full, the unit will cast its ability. For example, the Soraka ability is Starfall, which has an attack range, inflicts damage to opponents' specific units and simultaneously heals allies. However, the mana bar and casting ability are not true for every champion. Some champions have a passive ability that only triggers under certain conditions.
Item Drops
Besides the carousel rounds, you will have another chance to grab some loot orbs by slaying PvE monsters. The drops contain champions, gold, and items your unit can collect. The collected item components will accumulate on the left side of your chessboard. You will get many items from the beginning, so do not rush to combine them right from the start; instead, wait for better combinations and more options for later stages. The start of the game only has basic components.
Augments
Augments are heavenly reinforcements offered 3 times in total throughout the game. Augments provide you with bonus effects in Gold or Combat. You can get the Augment bonus in the following rounds:
2-1
3-2
4-2
You must choose your Augment wisely, as you are given one reroll per slot. If you plan to reroll, especially when you get one on Gold, then be careful, as rerolling will omit your previous selection. So, you have a choice from up to 6 Augments. You can use the reroll option if you do not find any augment that suits your needs and start playing.
The Shop
After your warmup rounds with monsters and minions, the game starts to shape up in more challenging ways, where you will make decisions and begin your team comp. The Shop opens up to you after the end of round two and preceding rounds until the game ends. The game will give you choices for up to five champion units here. You and other players (opponents) will draw from the same pool of finite pieces.
Before choosing your desired champion unit, you can hover over it and check for its description, cost, synergies, and ability to make an informed decision. The accumulated gold allows you to use the reroll option to get another set of five champions. The reroll option costs 2g, but you will have to spend 4g if you want XP points. XP is important because leveling up an XP means more champions on the board and more high-cost units. Moreover, you can also sell your champion units in the shop to get more gold, as the upcoming rounds will depend on how much gold you have. 1-star champions hold full value refunds, while 2-star champions' refunds take place with one less gold than their amount. By the end of each round, the shop appears afresh, but if you do not want the refreshed content and want to keep the same composition, you can lock your shop at the start of the next round.
Building Unit Synergies
Team Fight Tactics auto chess battler is about team composition that resonates around traits. The game offers class and origin traits, and the champions inherit at least one of each. The left side of the chessboard showcases the active traits like Soraka’s Mage/Sugarcraft. It also tells you how far you are from the breaking point to hit it and start getting the bonuses in store for you. Remember, these traits are visible when the unit is on the board, and you may see them by hovering the mouse over them. There are two ways to learn about the best team composition: you can do it by playing the game, i.e., the hit-and-trial method. The other way is the available TFT team composition game-changing guide.
Starring Up Units
Starring up or ranking up in TFT refers to combining two identical units to make a single, stronger unit. The ranking up is doable by combining three copies for each tier. This means that three 1-star units will combine to form a 2-star unit. Similarly, three 2-star units will produce one three-star unit. Units available in the Shop are always 1-star. Whenever a 1-star unit doubles to a 2-star unit, its size and power grow, and it will also notify your opponents. Starring up a champion will strengthen their Ability, and their Attack Damage and Ability Power also increase.
Shop Odd
The pool of champions (unit pools) appearing before you changes with the increasing player level. The more you level up, the better the odds of getting your hands on a stronger champion.
Charms
These are the special bonuses that show up in the shops. These charms evolve from weaker and cheaper ones to stronger ones as the game progresses. These charms can range from gold to items to rolling power, combat power, and even summoning a dragon to join your team.
TFT Items Guide
Items from the carousel or slaying monsters have much utility in the game. Some items are worth having, while others you need to avoid. Let's dive into the basics of Items and how to use them to your benefit.
Every unit holds a maximum of three items, and once granted, it stays permanently with the unit. To swap items, you must sell the unit holding the item, or you can use the item remover. Moreover, the game has three types of items: Physical, Magical, and Defensive. The items will help you augment the power of your team composition in the game. Items have multiple utility; they help garner health and attack speed and also help you attain a maximum number of units. The key lies in having the right items with the right units, this will take you to a favorable position in the battle.
TFT Economy Guide
TFT economy revolves around gold, it is precious. The more gold you accumulate, the more you can strengthen your team, level up, and stay ahead of other players. You can earn gold from activities like winning, losing, selling units, carousel, and engaging in PvE battles. So, spending gold wisely in the game is key; the more gold you build up, the higher your income stability. The initial rounds in the game will give you less gold, but as the round progresses, you will get 2 gold up to a base of 5 gold max per round. This means you get 2g in round 2, 3g in round 3, and so on.
Furthermore, you will also get additional gold depending on your win/loss streaks. The win streak rewards players for doing good in the game, while getting gold on a losing streak is a way for the game to shower some love. Additionally, you also get a +1 gold after winning a PvP round. The interest in the game also provides you with extra gold, where the accumulated gold at the end of the round earns you interest in gold. If you have 10g at the end of the round, you will earn an extra 1g, similarly, 50g will have you +5g as interest.
TFT Events Guide
A carousel event in TFT occurs on a floating island that is more like a cyber city. The event spawns a random pool of champions; among these champions, one can be picked per player in the game to build the team. These champions come with items ranging from basic to full core items, which happen in the game's latter stages. Players down the list will have the luxury to choose the champion first from the carousel. This event helps return the down-and-out players and provides a level playing field.
TFT Early Game Guide
As discussed previously, you will play the initial rounds against PvE and will be able to gather a few champions in your team. Now, you will begin your team composition from these random champions and items you got by slaying the monsters. However, if you have a strategy in mind and want to test out a particular champion trait, you always have the option to sell your champion in the rotating shop. Once you have gotten hold of the right champions, starting up units becomes a good strategy. This will let you hold a competitive edge in the early rounds and rounds to come in the game.
TFT Mid and End Game Guide
As the game progresses, important battles start from Round 2 to manifest your destiny. Your team composition from the start will eventually play a huge role in deciding the game's fate. From Stage 4 onwards, things get interesting as you will have several 2-star and three-star champions at this stage. The Carousel event will happen mid-game, allowing you to strengthen your team composition further. However, there might be scenarios where you will not find any offering that suits your team composition. In this case, it is advisable to pick the most expensive one as it will provide you with the best resale value and the item the previous champion had.
In the game's later stages, your main goal is to improve your team composition by assembling the best champions that resonate with your strategy. 4-cost and 5-cost champions are crucial at this stage, as you can pair them considering the trait synergy. Remember, 2-cost or 3-cost champions are also important, as you can upgrade them to higher levels.
The game's final stages will have you facing 1 or 2 opponents, and at this stage, you should include late-game units with 3 traits. This strategy will allow you to make multiple 2-champion trait synergies. Remember to spend all your hard-earned gold in the game's final stages, as the economy at that time doesn’t matter. There are crucial power spikes once you are in Levels 8 and 9, and you will access the high-level units.
TFT Game Modes
Several game modes in TFT allow you to practice and enter the ranked matches.
Normal Mode
The normal mode is the most common among players. In this mode, the game is set on default rules, and the outcome does not affect a player’s ranking. It is suggested that you play this mode with friends in a casual setting to have fun.
Ranked Mode
The TFT game is divided into ranks, starting from Iron as the bottom-most to Challenger as the topmost tiered rank in the game. This mode directly affects your rank and positioning on the rank leaderboard. The more you win TFT rank mode games, the higher your LP, which improves your rank. Read more details about tft ranks are in our other article.
Hyper Roll
This game mode encourages faster gameplay by bending the rules and core mechanics of the game.
Double Up Mode
In this mode, the game teams you up with another player. This way, you will fight your battles and help your ally with your champions.
Frequently Asked Questions by Beginners
Should I spend Gold early on in the game or save for later?
It all depends on your win streak. If you want to continue with your win streak, you should spend gold early on in the game. However, if you are not winning early in the game, then it is better to save the gold for later stages. It is essential to lose with good HP. A losing streak will not only max your interest but also give you a better chance in the carousel rounds.
Which Champions are strong, and at what times?
Every champion in the game has a point in a match where they are at their strongest. As the game progresses to later stages, the concept of raw power bursts and power spikes kicks in. At this stage, a champion is at its peak.
What is the best positioning strategy?
You must figure out the best positioning for your champion by tweaking the positions. As the number of players decreases in the match, the positioning becomes more important. The basic way is to divide your champions into the frontline and backlines. This division or hack mechanic will let your tank items stay at the front while protecting the backline from heavy damage. The frontline units are usually DPS units that deal well with heavy damage.
Conclusion
If you have reached this section, then you have a basic understanding of the game and are ready to roll. Until then, stay tuned for more insightful guides and new hack mechanics on TFT positioning, TFT economy, and TFT team composition.
